The Haryana Town and Country Planning (TCP) department is all set to cancel the colonization licence granted to Robert Vadra’s Sky Light Hospitality Private Limited in 2008, which was later transferred to realty company DLF Universal Limited for Rs 58 crore.
According to the reports, the Haryana government has decided to cancel the license given to Vadra’s firm after they found irregularities. The license was granted when the Congress party was in power in Haryana.
#Breaking | Sources suggest that Haryana government has decided to cancel the license of Robert Vadra’s company, Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd.
TIMES NOW’s Gurpreet Chinna with details. Listen in. pic.twitter.com/gt04qntW3c
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) September 19, 2019
According to KM Pandurang, director of TCP, the department had finished the procedural formalities for cancelling the licence in line with the provisions of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975. He added that notices have been served to the colonizer and they have also been provided with an opportunity to be heard.
“The department has grounds for cancelling the licence as the mutation of this land was set aside by the then Director-General, Consolidation of Holdings in 2012, thus affecting the title of the land,” Pandurang said.
‘Mutation’ is the transfer or change of title of a property in the land records of the revenue department. One of the conditions specified during the grant of a colonization licence under the Act of 1975 is that licence holder should have a clear title to the land. A colonization licence allows the holder to set up a colony for residential, commercial or industrial purposes.
Meanwhile, spokesperson of the DLF said the company had followed all regulations and paid all dues to the government for the licence and applied for its renewal in line with official policy. The spokesperson added that the company will examine the cancellation order and would thereafter, decide the future course of action.
Reportedly, the colonization licence was originally granted to Sky Light Hospitality by the Haryana TCP department for setting up a commercial colony on 2.7 acres in Gurgaon’s sector 83 (Shikohpur). Vadra’s Sky Light Hospitality allegedly flouted the rules by selling 3.53 acres of land including the licensed area of 2.7 acres to DLF Universal for Rs.58 crore on September 18, 2012.
The Haryana TCP had given in-principle approval for the transfer of the licence to DLF in April 2012, but final permission for the transfer was not granted. Over the years, DLF Universal had been depositing a renewal fee with the TCP department for the licence on behalf of Sky Light Hospitality, but the department has not renewed the license after 2012.
In 2018, Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar had said as the state government did not renew it, the licence was deemed to have lapsed.
A criminal case was also registered in Gurugram against Robert Vadra, Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and others in the context of this land deal. Senior officer Ashok Khemka, the then Director-General, Consolidation of Holdings, had on October 15, 2012, set aside the mutation (number 4513) of Sky Light’s 3.53 acres, which brought the alleged scam into the public domain.
“A mutation was sanctioned without jurisdiction on Sept 20, 2012, to give effect to sale deed of September 18, 2012, by the assistant consolidation officer who is not a revenue officer. Only a revenue officer as defined in Punjab Land Revenue Act is competent to sanction mutations,” read Khemka’s order setting aside the mutation.
Khemka was targeted and harassed by the then Congress government for his decisive action against Vadra. The then BS Hooda government had charge-sheeted him. The charge sheet was dropped and Khemka was promoted when BJP came to power.
Robert Vadra’s firm Sky Light Hospitality is also under probe for alleged Income Tax violations and similar land deals in Rajasthan too.
Robert Vadra is under investigation in several cases by probing agencies, which includes money laundering and illegal land deal cases. According to ED, the money laundering case involves payment of Rs 300 crore in a defence deal and USD 10 million received in a petroleum deal. A 1.9 million GBP London based property allegedly owned by Vadra is also a subject of the probe.
